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Do you know How to Fix ‘Hard Drive Not Showing Up’ issue on windows 11/10? External hard drives, which are portable hard drives, are preferred by the majority of users due to their big capacity and simple portability. Users are now more careful when selecting hard drives, and external hard drives are favoured by the majority of users. It is commonly utilised for the purpose of storing personal data or data backups.
You may understand how unpleasant it can be when one day your system screen appears with the problem “Hard disc not showing up.” The data is the most important thing in the world nowadays, and you realise how frustrating it can be when it appears. It is possible that the entire data that is saved on the device would either become corrupted or erased if this scenario occurs.
In some instances, our personal computer is unable to recognize the external hard drive or refuses to do so, even after the successful connection has been confirmed. The majority of the time, the issue becomes apparent when the device driver is either corrupted or out of date. These kinds of issues can be fairly challenging to resolve. Despite spending hours on it, you will not find a solution. We mentioned below are the simple ways how to Fix ‘Hard Drive Not Showing Up’ issue on windows 11/10.
Causes of the ‘Hard Drive Not Showing Up’ issue on windows 11/10
- Connection Issues: Check for loose or faulty cables connecting the hard drive to the computer.
- Drive Letter Conflict: Ensure there’s no conflict with other drives using the same letter.
- Driver Issues: Update or reinstall hard drive drivers through Device Manager.
- Partition Issues: Use Disk Management to check if the hard drive is partitioned and formatted correctly.
- File System Errors: Run the CHKDSK command to scan and fix file system issues.
- Power Management Settings: Adjust power settings to prevent the system from turning off the hard drive to save power.
- BIOS/UEFI Settings: Verify if the hard drive is recognized in the system’s BIOS/UEFI settings.
How to Fix ‘Hard Drive Not Showing Up’ issue on windows 11/10
Access Disk Management

- Press
Win + X
and select “Disk Management” from the menu. - Look for the missing hard drive in the lower section.
- If it appears, right-click on it and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths.”
- Assign a new drive letter if needed.
Update Device Drivers
- Open “Device Manager” by pressing
Win + X
and selecting it. - Locate your hard drive under “Disk drives.”
- Right-click and select “Update driver.”
- Choose “Search automatically for updated driver software.”
Check BIOS/UEFI Settings
- Restart your computer and enter the BIOS/UEFI settings (usually by pressing
Del
orF2
during boot). - Navigate to the “Advanced” or “Integrated Peripherals” section.
- Ensure that the hard drive is recognized in the list of connected devices.
Run Hardware Troubleshooter
- Open “Settings” and go to “Update & Security.”
- Click on “Troubleshoot” in the left sidebar.
- Select “Hardware and Devices” and run the troubleshooter.
Perform a Disk Cleanup
- Press
Win + S
and type “Disk Cleanup.” - Select the drive with the operating system installed.
- Check all the boxes and click “OK” to initiate the cleanup.
Reinitialize the Disk
- Press
Win + X
and select “Diskpart.” - Type
list disk
and identify your hard drive. - Type
select disk X
(replace X with your disk number). - Type
clean
to remove all partitions. - Type
create partition primary
and press Enter. - Type
format fs=ntfs quick
and press Enter.
Conclusion
These days, external hard drives are becoming increasingly widespread. They are perfect for working and storing things that are vital to you. Additionally, they are simple to put into use. The reason for this is that all you need to do is connect them to your Windows computer, and it will effortlessly appear on your screen. As a result of this, a great number of people have a tendency to keep their essential goods on hard drives so that they can retrieve them at a later time.
Questions and Answers
Drivers for the hard disc should be updated or reinstalled. There is a possibility that the Windows 11 Disc Management does not show discs issue will appear if the SATA driver is either not installed or incompatible with the version of Windows that you are now using. At this point, you have the option of either updating or reinstalling the drivers for the hard drive.
In the event that the data cable is destroyed or the connection on the hard disc is improper, the BIOS will not identify the hard disc. Serial ATA cables, in particular, have the potential to become disconnected from their connection at times. Ensure that your SATA cables are securely attached to the SATA port connection by checking each one individually.
In the event that a mechanical drive does fail, recovery of data and restoration of the drive’s functionality are both possible through a number of different methods. These include, among other things, the utilisation of data recovery software, the transmission of the drive to a professional data recovery service, the replacement of the components that are damaged, and, ultimate, the replacement of the drive entirely.